Patterson's son returns to re-create history in New Paltz

Friday

Feb 15, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Floyd Patterson II says although he's not 6-foot-2, he's thinking tall when he portrays Paul Robeson, only the third black person to attend Rutgers University, to which he received a scholarship, and graduated valedictorian.

"I'm in awe of how this man held himself up to such a high standard of achievement at a time when more doors were closed than open," says Patterson, son of the late heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson.

Robeson was only the third black person to attend Rutgers University, to which he received a scholarship, and graduated valedictorian.

"The football team didn't want him to play. They beat him up so badly that he was in the hospital for a week-and-a-half," says Patterson. "But he went back to the team — earning All-American status in 1917 and 1918. ... All that he did was as a representative of his family and his race. He needed to accomplish the mission, no matter what."

Yet he's remembered most for his distinctive bass voice and his rendition of "Ol' Man River" from "Show Boat," which almost seems shallow in the context of this complex, courageous man.

"Paul Robeson," a play by Phillip Hayes Dean, highlights Robeson's life, from Rutgers to just a few years before his death. Patterson is reprising this role Saturday in a Unison Arts production at SUNY New Paltz's McKenna Theatre.

"I saw a video from '98," Patterson says of the first production, which was taken on a mini-tour in 2003. "I'm bringing quite a bit more to the role now ... trying to stay true to his presence.

"After 2007, we weren't going to do it anymore," he says, referring to himself and Marcus Pitts III, the only other cast member. Pitts portrays Robeson's accompanist Lawrence Brown and the House Un-American Activities Committee interrogator.

"We might even take the show to Boston, but there's a concern about whether it would draw an audience," he says. "There's still such a need to educate (about Robeson)."

Racism curtailed Robeson's short career as a lawyer. His wife, Eslanda, to whom he was not always faithful, encouraged him to segue into theater.

"He loved acting and singing," says Patterson, pointing to his lead role in "Emperor Jones" in 1934, his becoming an international sensation in London with "Othello," and the almost 300 performances of "Othello" on Broadway.

The actor, though, who could speak and sing in more than 20 languages, was still an activist, speaking out against injustices at home and abroad. He had his passport revoked in the '50s and was blacklisted, which forced the sale of the Robesons' Connecticut home, ironically just 10 minutes from where Patterson lives, in Springfield, Mass.

"Paul thought Russia was a good place for blacks to live. The Soviet Union's Article 123 banned racism — long before the U.S. had," Patterson says of the country Robeson exposed his son Paul Jr. to — and where a suicide attempt was made.

Patterson is particularly proud to bring this production to New Paltz, where his father went to high school after being "turned around" at the Wiltwyck School for Boys.

"When I go there, I feel like I'm walking in my father's shoes," he says. "I feel the warmth."